Narmada A Khare

Narmada A Khare is a biologist by training. After completing her MSc in zoology (genetics) from the University of Pune, she worked at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (‘TIRF’), Mumbai, studying the behaviour of temperature sensitive mutants of the fruit-fly Drosophila melanogaster, a well-loved model organism. During her PhD at Lund University (Sweden) and her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University (USA) she continued to study several aspects of the early development of Drosophila. It was during this last stretch that she found her love for teaching biology.

The one year spent teaching biology to the undergraduates at Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, was one of the most satisfying periods in Narmada’s journey as a biologist. This later resulted in her joining the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, as a biology instructor for undergraduate students, a tenure that lasted five years. This experience made it clear that science students need to be trained in the skill of research communication to be able to reach different kinds of audiences, and this led to her joining the Office of Communications at IISc.

Having spent many years as a researcher and teacher of science, Narmada wanted to work with a team that not just researched issues that directly affect humans, but also experimented with practical methods to address them and start a wider conversation about them. That’s what led her to IIHS.